Absentee ballots might determine 6th District City Council nominees

Baltimore elections officials said they will begin counting absentee ballots today that could decide the outcome of the Republican primary for the 6th District City Council seat.

Four Republican candidates ran for nominations to three seats on the City Council. One candidate, Joseph Brown Jr., held a commanding lead in unofficial results from election night.

But three other candidates vying for the other two nominations were within 28 votes of each other, according to unofficial results. The outcome remains uncertain because 48 absentee ballots were mailed out to Republican voters in the district, said Marvin Cheatham, president of the city Elections Board.

Cheatham could not say yesterday how many of those ballots had been returned, but he estimated that 30 or more will likely be counted when all ballots are opened today. The 6th District GOP primary appears to be the only race that might be affected by absentee ballots, he added.